Vehicles, including trailers, trucks, SUV's, vans, minivans, station wagons, and the like, all have a cargo area, but, remarkably, all lack a safe and adequate means to restrain and secure objects, especially during an accident or emergency maneuver. Pickup trucks' cargo tie down points are not strong enough and they are placed incorrectly for most cargo, and most SUV's, vans, minivans, and station wagons have absolutely no means to secure cargo. There are some after market accessories which purport to aid in securing cargo from moving during transport, but even these universally have no actual means to firmly secure the cargo during an accident or emergency maneuver.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes that in 2001, in the United States, 36,000 people died in traffic accidents and 2.9 million were injured. Many thousands of these were undoubtedly injured or killed by unsecured cargo. In a 58 kmph (35 mph) head-on crash, a 454 g (one pound) can of food in the back seat continues forward at 15.2 meters-per-second (50 feet-per-second) until it strikes something or someone with a potential of up to 445 newtons (100 pounds) of force. Even if passengers are unharmed during a panic maneuver or accident, unsecured cargo may well result in damage to the cargo and damage to the vehicle.
Even pickup trucks have inadequate means to safely secure loads within the truck bed. Most truck manufacturers provide tie down rings or rope cleats within their truck beds, but these are universally placed proximate the four corners of the bed and are usually placed high up on the corner, at or near the top of the sides of the bed. After market tie down accessories universally attach proximate the top of the sides of the truck bed, and are frequently designed to attach to the “stake holes” which are located in the corners. The placement of these tie down points poses several problems: if the truck owner has an object to transport which is shorter than the height of the tie down rings, then the rings cannot be used to secure the object, e.g., if the owner wants to transport twelve 2×4's, stacked four wide and three deep, then the top of the stack is only 11 cm (4.5″) above the bed. If the tie down rings are 40 cm (16″) above the bed, they are useless. Second, by placing the rings in the bed corners, cargo in the center of the bed cannot be adequately secured. The inability to adequately secure cargo can lead to the cargo shifting during transit, sometimes damaging the cargo and/or damaging the truck bed. During emergency maneuvers or an accident, inadequately secured cargo can be thrown through the truck rear window, injuring or killing the occupants, or the cargo may be thrown completely out of the truck, posing a hazard to other drivers and pedestrians.
Further, both the after market tie down devices and the tie down rings/cleats provided by all truck manufacturers are just not strong enough to truly restrain heavy cargo in an accident. Pickup trucks are typically listed as being able to carry 455 kg (½ ton), 682 kg (¾ ton) or 910 kg (one ton), but their tie down rings are typically made out of 0.635 cm (¼″) steel rod, and the rings are universally anchored to the sheet metal of the bed wall. Even 227 kg (¼ ton or 500 lbs) anchored to these rings in an 83 kmph (50 mph) head-on crash would simply tear these tie down rings out of the sheet metal.
Having studied this situation, it is truly amazing that vehicle owners, vehicle manufacturers, accessory manufacturers and the law have allowed this dangerous condition to continue unabated, and with no real solution. The subject of the current invention provides the first true solution to safely and conveniently secure cargo within a vehicle's cargo area.